PE-QSX page 1

March - April 2019

Water Point 1 at the Van Stadens Mountain Marathon held on the 27th January 2019.

This Newsletter is published by the Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society P.O. Box 10402, LINTON GRANGE, 6015

Editing by Eric ZS2ECH

QSX-PE - Newsletter for the discerning Radio Ham

Download QSX-PE from www.zs2pe.co.za/Newsletter/Newsletter.htm or www.commco.co.za/pears.htm

PE-QSX page 2

PEARS Monthly Meeting 7:30 pm at the Italian Sporting Club, 17 Harold Road, Charlo.

Sunday 10th of March 2019 PEARS social bring & braai, 11:30 am at the Walmer Scout Hall

Tuesday 19th of March 2019 Air traffic controller, by John Spies

Tuesday 16th of April 2019 The ins and outs of DX’ing, by Barry ZS2EZ

Saturday 18th of May 2019 PEARS AGM

DIARY OF EVENTS 3 March SARL Hamnet 40m Simulated Emergency Contest

2 – 3 March ARRL DX SSB

9 March SARL YL Sprint

9 – 10 March SARL VHF/UHF Analogue Contest

9 – 10 March RSGB Commonwealth Contest

10 March PEARS Bring & Braai, Walmer Scout Hall

19 March PEARS monthly meeting at the Italian Club

30 – 31 March CQ WPX SSB

4 April SARL 80 m QSO Party

6 April RaDAR Challenge

6 – 7 April SARL VHF/UHF Digital Contest

16 April PEARS monthly meeting at the Italian Club

18 April World Amateur Radio Day

19 – 20 April Holyland DX Contest

20 April Autumn QRP Contest

20 April ZS4SRK Balloon Contest

21 April ZS4 Sprint

4 – 5 May AWA Valve QSO Party

18 May PEARS AGM

It’s with sadness that we have to announce the silent key of George Pearson ZS2E. To all family and friends we extend our

sincerest condolences.

PE-QSX page 3

2019/2020 Amateur Radio License fee increase ICASA has informed the SARL that the licence fee will be increased by 4.7% on 1 April 2019. The new fees will be 1 Year - R 148.00 2 Years - R 283.00 3 Years - R 406.00 4 Years - R 517.00 5 Years - R 617.00 ICASA will start the invoicing process for the 2019/2020 period from 4 February 2019. Radio Amateurs are reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure their license is up to date. If for some reason no invoice is received, check that ICASA has been informed of any address changes. Avoid the hassles of having to renew each year, opt for a multi-year licence. Simply, when renewing pay the appropriate amount. On the EFT state 5 Year licence and your callsign. Also send an email to dkuhrau@icasa.org.za with a copy of the EFT payment. The correct account for your ICASA Licence Fee is NEDBANK Account number: 14 62 00 29 27, Branch Code: 146245 - Corporate Client Services – Pretoria and in the reference field type in your licence number and call sign. Note the previous issue of QSX listed the 2018/2019 fees.

All members that have club trophies – please return them to any committee

member so that we can prepare them for the AGM in May.

PE-QSX page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE

Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology

PROTEA HOTEL TECHNOPARK

STELLENBOSCH 16 April 2019

Organizing the 2019 SARL Symposium has now been underway for some time, and a lot of groundwork has been covered. We are confident that by now you are well aware of the events which constitutes the symposium, which will take place on the 12th and 13th April 2019 at the Techno Park in Stellenbosch. Unlocking Amateur Radio Technology promises to be a very exciting event that Radio Amateurs who want to get more from their hobby should attend. Presentations on how to use your computer to receive radio signals with the aid of a low cost “dongle” plugin, development of a Reverse Beacon Network for determining propagation opportunities in the VHF bands, the workings of the IARU and its importance to Radio Amateurs worldwide, the latest 3U orbiting cubesat built by CPUT, the latest craze, FT8, and much more will be delivered. We are also in the fortunate position to having representation by universities, industry, and research organizations. This is the ideal opportunity for us to get together and share our experiences and broaden outlook in what is happening in other related fields. So do not let this opportunity slip by. Register timeously to ensure your seat and presence at the evening cocktail. To keep Radio Amateurs abreast of developments, updates will be published in News Bulletins, the SARL Website, Newsletters and other media. Deon ZR1DE Hans ZS6AKV pcoetzee715@gmail.com hans@intekom.co.za

PE-QSX page 5

Earth’s Shifting Magnetic Pole May be Confusing Your Cell Phone

By Dr. Tony Phillips Pick up your cell phone and look at it. That rectangular marvel of modern technology contains thousands of lines of code. Among them is the World Magnetic Model (WMM)–a program that helps your phone navigate. And it’s in a bit of trouble. Researchers have announced that the WMM needs an emergency update because Earth’s magnetic field is changing.

Savvy backcountry hikers have long known that compass needles don’t really point north. The magnetic north pole is displaced hundreds of miles from the true North Pole and, to make matters worse, it wanders unpredictably from year to year. To find true north in the continental USA, you have to correct compass directions by as much as 20 degrees using a special “declination table.”

PE-QSX page 6

The World Magnetic Model is a computer program that makes this correction for you. It improves the navigation of devices ranging from nuclear submarines to common smartphones. “The WMM is the standard magnetic model used for navigation by organizations such as NATO, the Ministry of Defense, and the US Department of Defense, and also by smartphone operating systems such as Android and iOS,” explains Will Brown of the British Geological Survey’s Geomagnetism Team, which produces the model in collaboration with NOAA of the USA. “When you open your smartphone’s map app, you may see an arrow pointing which way you’re facing, and there’s something quite clever going on underneath,” he continues. “Your phone contains a magnetometer that is measuring the Earth’s magnetic field. In order to make sense of this information, Android and iOS operating systems use the WMM to correct the measurements to true north.” Normally the World Magnetic Model is updated every 5 years. For decades that’s been often enough to track natural changes in our planet’s magnetism caused by fluctuations in Earth’s molten core. But suddenly things are changing faster than before.

Annual rate of change of declination for 2015.0 to 2020.0 from the World Magnetic Model

(WMM2015). This information is about to be updated by a new WMM. “Since late 2014, Earth’s core field has varied in an unpredicted, and currently unpredictable, manner [including a sudden change in declination called a ‘geomagnetic jerk‘ in 2014/2015],” says Brown. “The aim of the WMM is to be globally accurate within 1

PE-QSX page 7

degree of declination, but we were going to exceed that limit in only 3 years.” That’s why, for the first time, they are issuing an update to the WMM before the usual 5 year mark in 2020. The new model is based data from a global network of 160 surface observatories and satellites in low-Earth orbit such as ESA’s Swarm mission. It was supposed to be released on Jan. 15th but has been delayed until Jan. 30th because of the partial shutdown of the US government.

Map of declination (degrees East or West of true north) at 2015.0 Copied from: https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/01/16/earths-shifting-magnetic-pole-affects-your-cell-phone/

PE-QSX page 8

JOC at Herald Road Race 24 Feb'19

ZS2JIM at the VOC for the 2019 Herald Cycle Tour road race

PE-QSX page 9

CONGRATULATIONS

BIRTHDAYS – March

01 Rudi ZR2RCG Goosens 01 Wendy XYL of Shawn ZS2SG Gilbert 03 Daphne XYL of Paul ZS2PG Galpin 04 Erika XYL of Gert ZS2GHK Kok 08 Errol ZS2EK Kleinhans 08 Magrieta XYL of Martin ZS2MR Ras 08 Melanie XYL of Charl ZS2CG Gerber 09 Tony ZS2T Dove 10 Michael ZS2MG Gooden 16 Anne XYL of Graham ZS2GIB Butcher 21 Andrew ZS2G Gray 22 Dubennette XYL of Quintus ZS2KU

Moolman 22 Peggy XYL of Viv ZS2VM Moore 29 Allan ZS2R Whitehead 31 Brigitte XYL of Tim ZS2TIM Jones 31 Richard ZS6RX Boatwright

ANNIVERSARIES – March

03 Graham ZS2GIB and Anne Butcher 05 Zack ZS2ZB and Sunell Botes 15 Arno ZS2ABT and Cheryl du Preez 18 Andrew ZS2PA and Roslyn Prideaux 22 Rudi ZR2RCG and Ellie Goosens 29 Shawn ZS2SG and Wendy Gilbert

BIRTHDAYS – April

01 Joan XYL of Barry ZS2H Jackson 01 Rosalee ZS2DN XYL of Donovan ZS2DL

van Loggerenberg 03 Theunis ZS2EC Potgieter 05 Bernice ZS2BD XYL of Mike ZS2MDL De

Lange 05 Hugo ZS2HR Ras 05 Rey XYL of Saney ZR1S Martin 07 Christel XYL of Michael ZS2MD

Opperman 11 Adele XYL of Shaun ZS2L Baumeister 12 Andre ZS2ZA Potgieter 13 Graham ZS2GIB Butcher 13 Lizette XYL of Nico ZS4N Oelofse 16 Danie ZS2DRS Steyn 18 Annelize XYL of Aldrin ZS2AGB Baker 22 Allan ZS2BO Bowles 24 Deidre XYL of Tony ZR2TX Allen 28 Chantelle XYL of Richard ZS2RA

Ashworth 28 Christopher ZS2AAW Scarr

ANNIVERSARIES – April

03 Hugo ZS2HR and Juan Ras 04 Glen ZS2GV and Vanessa Cummings 06 Wolf ZS2WG and Cathy Gerstle 08 Mitch ZS2DK and Colette ZS2CR Rundle 11 Aldrin ZS2AGB and Annelize Baker 20 Mike ZS2MDL and Bernice ZS2BD De

Lange 21 Rory ZS2BL and Jackie Norton 23 Neels and Patsy ZS2PTY Kruger

If you are a member and your birthday or anniversary details are omitted or incorrect, please notify any committee member to update our records

PE-QSX page 10

HAM RADIO OUTLET-SOUTH AFRICA cc “Where Radio is a Passion”

Port Elizabeth’s official distributer of YAESU, Kenwood and ICOM amateur equipment

For all your Amateur needs from plugs to coax…. give us a call 041 3711425. Speak to Donovan (ZS2DL)

We Ship Country Wide!

Visit http://www.hamradio.co.za

For all your ham radio requirements!

Sunday SARL and Monday Club Bulletins

PEARS provides a local reading of the SARL national bulletins on Sundays in Afrikaans at 08h15 and English at 08h30. The club bulletins are transmitted on a Monday at 20h00. All transmissions are on 7098 kHz as well as the 2m linked network that provides coverage from Butterworth to George and up to the Free State and their environs. Please consult the PEARS webpage for any changes.

Bulletin Roster http://www.zs2pe.co.za/bulletins.htm

4 March Glen ZS2GV

11 March Mike ZS2MDL

18 March Michael ZS2MG

25 March Gert ZS2GS

1 April Tony ZR2TX

8 April Chris ZS2AAW

15 April Johannes ZS2JO

22 April Eric ZS2ECH

29 April Glen ZS2GV

6 May Mike ZS2MDL

The bulletin readers are always looking for something

to announce. If you have something to contribute,

please forward it to the next reader.

PE-QSX page 11

Your Society’s Committee for 2017-2018 Chairman Gert Schoeman ZS2GS 082 721 4010 gert1schoeman[at]gmail.com Vice Chairman, Events & Rally organising

Tony Allen ZR2TX 082 956 2920 tony.zr2tx[at]gmail.com

Secretary, Treasurer Bernice de Lange ZS2BD 082 390 6340 bernicedelange[at]outlook.com Repeaters Chris Scarr ZS2AAW 082 925 6367 christopher[at]peham.co.za Technical/repeaters/SAR comms

Glen Cummings ZS2GV 082 411 2743 glenvanessa[at]gmail.com

Meetings & Refreshments, Socials

Johannes Geldenhuys ZS2JO 082 320 3032 johannes[at]s4.co.za

Fundraising, Socials Mike de Lange ZS2MDL 082 705 9161 mike[at]mikedelange.co.za Wifi network Michael Gooden O76 489 1764 me[at]zs2mg.co.za QSX Editor Eric Hosten ZS2ECH 072 841 4693 eric.hosten[at]mandela.ac.za

CO-OPTED POSTS RAE Examination Admin. Donovan van Loggerenberg

ZS2DL 082 852 4885 zs2dl[at]hamradio.co.za

Contest Committee Theunis Potgieter ZS2EC 064 901 8079 contest[at]peham.co.za PEARS VHF/UHF Contest

Replace [at] with @ when you want to send an email (this is done to try to prevent spamming).

PEARS' VHF/UHF, Packet & Other Services

Local Repeaters: These repeaters form a separate sub-net in the PE - Uitenhage - Despatch area. Town VHF

145,050/650 Town UHF

431,050/438,650 Uitenhage

145,075/675 Longmore

145,025/625 IRLP available on this subnet

Cape Linked System Repeaters: These form the PEARS long-range 2-metre repeater system, in conjunction with the Border, Southern Cape and WCRWG

systems. See www.zs2pe.co.za/Repeaters/repeaters.htm for more details. Lady's Slipper 145,100/700

Grahamstown 145,150/750

Cradock 145,050/650

Noupoort (link only) 438,750 / 438,675

Colesberg 431,075/438,675

Kareedouw 145,125/725

Plett 145,175/775

Brenton 145,075/675

Packet network: ZS0NTP-2 Packet Node

Lady’s Slipper

144,800 1200bd 439,850 9600bd

434,800 1200bd APRS

ZS0NTP BBS Lady’s Slipper

On all node frequencies

ZS0GHT-2 Packet Node Grahamstown

144,800 1200bd 434,800 1200bd

439,850 9600bd (to LS)

ZS0CDK-2 Digi Cradock

144,800 1200bd

ZS0KDJ APRS Digi Mount Road

434,800 1200bd

ZS0KDB APRS Digi Longmore

434,800 1200bd

ZS2ABZ-4 WMR918 WX Station

144,625 1200bd

VHF Beacon: 50,007 MHz FSK – ZS2X, 25 Watts into 2 element Yagi beaming north.

Banking details (for subs & donations): NEDBANK SAVINGS ACCOUNT No. 221 252 7594, Bank code 121217, A/C name: Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society. Please use call signs as a reference.

Disclaimer. Note: The Editor, nor any PEARS club member, shall not be held liable for errors and/or omissions in any article and/or drawing contained in this newsletter. Furthermore, any view expressed is not necessarily that of the Editor, any committee member or other members of the Club. The material contained in this newsletter is not meant to defame, purge, humiliate and/or hurt someone's person or feelings. If copyright is unintentionally infringed, we apologise, this newsletter is published as a free service to Amateur Radio operators and friends and is neither for profit nor gain.

PE-QSX page 12

IF NOT DELIVERED RETURN TO

Port Elizabeth Amateur Radio Society

PO Box 10402 LINTON GRANGE

6015

AMATEUR RADIO is the hobby for RADIO EXPERIMENTERS

and those who like to fiddle with ELECTRONICS, COMMUNICATIONS or COMPUTERS